The Cerritos men’s basketball team won yet again defeating LA Harbor on Feb. 2 as they extended their win streak to six games and a perfect conference record of 4-0 to give them sole posession of first place.
The first half was fairly competitive throughout all 20 minutes, with the biggest lead only being five points when Cerritos led 20-25.
The Seahawks shot at amazing efficiency shooting at a high 56% from the field while Cerritos struggled shooting at just 40%.
What kept Cerritos in it was the many unforced turnovers by LA Harbor, allowing Cerritos to stay competitive in the game while being outplayed.
The first half consisted of eight ties and five lead changes with both teams going back and forth for the first 20 minutes of the game.
The half ended with a buzzer-beater by Chase Nelson from LA Harbor giving them momentum going into the second.
“First half I thought we were playing too passive, we weren’t aggressive and we didn’t handle the success we’ve been having very well”, said Falcons head coach Russ May.
Although the first 20 minutes of the game were competitive with both teams going back and forth the same can’t be said about the final 20 minutes.
Once Cerritos took a lead to start the second half they never looked back and kept it for the rest of the game.
Cerritos came out of the locker room more aggressive in the second half, forcing eight more turnovers and getting to the free-throw line 21 times.
The Falcons made defensive adjustments switching to a zone defense to help slow down the Seahawks offense.
Although the Seahawks were down for the whole second half of the game they kept fighting till the final buzzer went off.
Both teams played an aggressive game, as it got very physical down in the paint area.
With multiple instances of bodies falling to the ground and players hustling to get a rebound this game felt like a conference game.
Cerritos would gain a lead as big as 17 in the second half but even that wasn’t enough to put the Seahawks away as they shrunk the lead down to seven with just six minutes left in the game.
The leading scorer for Cerritos was Darron Henry who scored 21 points, 14 of those points coming from the second half of the game.
Henry was joined by Miles Ceballos who scored 15 along with three rebounds and assists.
“It just makes the target on our back a lot bigger, teams are really gonna want to beat us and teams are gonna want to take us down and so we’re gonna have to step up to the plate,” said May when speaking about the 4-0 conference record.
The Falcons have completely turned their season around, winning six in a row and 10 of their last 13 games.
They will face a challenge to finish the season with four of their next six games on the road.
The Falcons will take on the Long Beach City College Vikings on Feb. 7, hoping to keep their win streak alive.
